Sir John Franklin  (1786 - 1847)

From 1837 until 1843, the polar explorer Sir John Franklin was lieutenant-governor of Van Diemens Land. His presence in Hobart during the visits of major French and British scientific expeditions, led respectively by Dumont d'Urville and Ross, guaranteed both men a warm welcome and strong support for their endeavours. Franklin and his wife Jane contributed much to Hobart cultural and intellectual life. With the strong involvement of Jane, Sir John founded the Tasmanian Natural History Society, basis of the later Royal Society, which continues today to support and nurture science in Tasmania. Franklin's polar connections were to continue. When the Franklins left Van Diemen's Land, he led a naval expedition to the Canadian Arctic seeking the fabled 'North-West Passage' from Europe to the Pacific. He died in 1847 with all his men after his ships - the same Erebus and Terror that his friend Ross had brought to Hobart - became trapped in ice. His body was never found.